


What the Future Holds

by chumysart



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-07-24 10:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16173614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chumysart/pseuds/chumysart
Summary: What happened after Lily and James found out about the prophecy, and how much their lives had to change in the months before their deaths.





	1. Lily...

“Lily…” called James softly from the doorway. “Lily?”  
In the corner, James could just make out a hunched-over shadow, sniffling at the wall. He walked over timidly.  
“Lily… what’s wrong?”  
A tight sob escaped through Lily’s cracked lips, “I’m fine.”  
“Yeah, it really seems like it,” James said in a low voice.  
Lily began to say something, but then her voice broke and tears began to stream down her cheeks. She buried her head in James’s shoulder, soaking his shirt.  
He stroked her hair as his eyes welled at hearing her cries. “Lily, you know it will be okay.”  
Lily didn’t answer, she couldn’t get words out. Her throat felt obstructed by her sobs and she could only feel her heart beating, faster than her mind could register. She was sure that this was it. The end, and after everything else!  
She couldn’t stop tearing herself apart over this. That man… but she had known him.  
“I don’t know. I don’t! And neither do you. Not even Dumbledore can save us now.”  
James couldn’t look into Lily’s eyes; he knew she was right.  
Harry started to cry from the other room. James made to go and get him, but Lily was up first, wiping her face with her sleeve and shuffling from the room. James stared after her. He could see sadness and fear in her walk. And he was sure she could see it in him.  
Lily scooped up little Harry from his bassinet and cuddled him in her arms. She sat down in her rocking chair and held him close.  
“My sweet boy. My innocent boy,” she whispered. “I love you. So much. And I’m sorry. He won’t hurt you, baby. I promise.” But even as she said it, Lily knew that the words weren’t true. It wasn’t up to her now. He was coming for them. And it was all because of someone… who she had once trusted with her entire future.  
“It is real, isn’t it?”  
“It’s real for us.”  
Lily sniffled and held her son closer. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.  
She and James had only been married one month when Lily had gotten pregnant. The new couple had been elated at the prospect of raising a child, and hadn’t backed down from the challenge. They had spent the next nine months preparing endlessly for the arrival of their baby boy, and the first month with Harry in the world had been heaven. And then, all hell broke loose. The night before last Lily and James had been woken at four in the morning by an urgent knock on their front door. It had been Dumbledore. He had strode into the house looking extremely, and unusually, anxious. He sat down on the couch and motioned for them to sit across from him.  
“James, Lily… I have unfortunate news…”  
He then proceeded to tell them that a prophecy had been made regarding a boy, born at the end of July, right around the time Harry had been born. The other specifications in the prophecy made it clear that it had been regarding their son. The prophecy had been made by non-other than a descendant of a very famous seer. At the end of the prophecy, it was discovered that there had been a man listening at the door, eager to hear all that this seer had to say.  
“Who was it?” James had asked, hoping against hope that it was only a drunk man, or else a confused guest at the inn.  
But nothing could have prepared Lily nor himself for what Dumbledore had said next:  
“It was… Severus Snape.”


	2. Half-Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dumbledore confirms the details with James and Lily.

Lily had heard next to nothing of what Dumbledore said next about their protection and relocation. She had barely been alert the next day while she and James packed up their whole house. Packed up everything they had worked so hard to build.   
Things didn’t usually affect her this much, and she couldn’t understand why this should. She and Severus hadn’t had any contact with each other since fifth year when she had begun to despise him and his crude behaviors.  
And now, little though she wanted to let herself think it, she knew that there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t save her child, her husband, or even herself.  
After that day of being half-awake, the fatigue had worn off only to be replaced with an inescapable feeling of helplessness.   
And now, sitting here with her beautiful baby boy, she knew that the time for self-pity had to be long gone. This had to be about doing everything she could to defy the odds and save her son. Voldemort might be taking everything else from her, but she wouldn’t let him have her child.   
Slowly, Lily wiped away her tears and stood up. She put a now sleeping Harry back in his bassinet and stood to watch him for a moment. He was so peaceful. So blissfully unaware. At least he would not remember the hell that they were about to go through… at least she hoped he wouldn’t.   
…  
The next morning Lily greeted James in the empty kitchen with a kiss and a smile. He was happy to see this change in her.   
The house was all packed up and they were ready to go. All they needed now was for Dumbledore to arrive to take them to the carefully selected safe location where they would be living indefinitely.  
“I hope it’s not in some sketchy, random place…” Lily said anxiously  
“I’m sure it won’t be, this is Dumbledore, right? Don’t worry so much.” Said James reassuringly.  
Lily knew he was right, but that didn’t stop her from having reservations. Just then there was a sharp knock on the door. Lily rushed to open it and let Dumbledore in. As soon as he stepped over the threshold and he and Lily and James were all seated, he began to discuss the plan for that night.   
“Right,” He began, clasping his hands together. “First thing’s first: are you all packed and ready to go at any moment?” After waiting for a quick nod from the couple, Dumbledore continued. “Good. So, as you no doubt will have noticed, I have not yet informed you of the location that has been selected as, shall we call it, you’re “safe house”. Before I tell you where the “safe house” will be, I would like you to be informed of at least some, if not all, of the enchantments placed on and around the house in which you will be staying.  
“To start off with, the floo network will not be connected to your house. This will, of course, limit your options when it comes to traveling (which, unfortunately, you won’t be able to do a lot of anyway), but that means that it will also block any intruders from getting in.  
“You will be familiar with most of the charms and enchantments placed on the house, and their effects. The most important one, and most unfamiliar to you, I think, is the Fidelius charm. This charm will make it so that only us and a few select others will be able to know where you live. This is possible because you are to choose one person to be the “secret keeper”. Only the people who the secret keeper tells the address to will know where you are. This person has not yet been chosen, that decision is up to you, though if I may, I quite thought that Sirius Black could be the man for the job.” Dumbledore waited long enough for Lily and James to nod their heads, before clasping his hands together and declaring decisively, “Right! Let’s get moving.”


End file.
